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Mark Dantonio shares thoughts on Michigan State football's 'culture of confidence' at Pro Day

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Mark Dantonio, a defensive back at South Carolina during his playing career and a secondary coach for Nick Saban before his rise to national championship defensive coordinator at Ohio State (2002) and Michigan State head coach, visits with outgoing Spartan defensive backs Isaiah Lewis and Darqueze Dennard at Tuesday's Pro Day.
(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

EAST LANSING — Mark Dantonio had a majestic air about him at Michigan State's Pro Day workout on Tuesday afternoon.

The Spartans head coach was proud of the players competing around him, a group of outgoing seniors he said "have set the bar" for what Michigan State's football program has become.

Dantonio says that the Big Ten championship victory over Ohio State and the Rose Bowl triumph over Stanford is not the ending but rather a continuation of a process that began when he was hired before the 2007 season.

"Our senior class is the winningest class in Michigan State history, and that's a statement in itself,'' Dantonio said. "They helped changed the culture. I think the culture was changing from 2007 on … but they continued to set the bar higher.''

Of 32 NFL teams, 31 were represented at Michigan State's pro day. The New York Jets franchise was the only one not present.

Seemingly at each turn, an outgoing Spartan senior was cornered and interviewed by an NFL representative.

"I think when you win, good things happen to you,'' said Dantonio, who's 64-29 (.688) through seven years as Michigan State's head coach, including a school-record string of seven straight bowl appearances and wins against rival Michigan in five of the teams' past six meetings.

"If you're successful, other things will follow you,'' he said. "This is a springboard …you're a 13-1 team, a Big Ten champion, a Rose Bowl champion, you do that with great players, and I think there's an interest from people at the next level.''

There were some bittersweet feelings for Dantonio, who explained the mix of emotions he was experiencing.

"It's a Catch 22; you hate to see guys go that have been a part of this process and won a lot of games here the last four years,'' Dantonio said. "But now you get to see them take the next step.''

The distance between himself and his players will not change the relationships, Dantonio said.

"We won the Rose Bowl, and It's not going to fade away for a while, but it will (eventually) fade,'' he said. "And then it's all about the relationships.''

As clever as the Michigan State schemes proved to be, as much as the players developed and as well as they performed, Dantonio insists that there was another factor behind the Spartans' unprecedented success.

"I've continually said this: we have great players and great coaches, but we've won big here because of chemistry,'' said Dantonio, whose Spartans became the first in league history to win nine Big Ten games by double-digit margins.

"We have players here who believe in themselves, we have an environment where our players can be productive and they can thrive, and they feed off each other,'' he said. "We have good people. There's a culture of confidence here.''